Director Anna Muylaert and Actress Regina Case talk about The Second Mother .

Anna Muylaert is a Brazilian director who first became a mother over 20 years ago. At that time, raising a child was left in the hands of a woman, be it the mother or a nanny. She started on a script called A Porta da Cozinha (The Kitchen Door ) based on her experience as a working woman with a nanny, but it didn’t materialize.

20 years later. Muylaert revisited the script and ended up directing Que Horas Ela Volta. Muylaert’s dramatic-comedy about the class barriers that exist within the home is Brazil’s submission for Best Foreign Film.

Muylaert and star of her film, Regina Case, are in Hollywood to discuss the issues of female film-making and the Brazilian class system. Muylaert asks about my name, enamored that it’s Jazz, “like the music.” She sings.

Awards Daily: Tell us about the journey here today. This started 20 years ago?

Anna Muylaert: When I became a mother and was so in love with doing the work, I started to question the character of the nanny. Back then it was normal for the nanny to sleep in the house. I stayed at home for two years to take care of my baby.

Regina Case: Everybody had nannies.

AM: If you want to work and you are a mother, you need to have a nanny. Men don’t really help in Latin countries. Either you go live with your mother, or you have a nanny. They used to live in, but nowadays, they have lives outside of the house.

RC: Even the nannies have nannies.

AM: There’s a documentary called Housemaids, where one of the nannies, is a nanny of a nanny. To me, this was the most important job in the world, and seeing all of this was when I got the idea and it started for me.

AD: What changed from the original – The Kitchen Door to The Second Mother?

AM: A lot. The President [of Brazil-Dilma Rousseff ] is a leader from the Worker’s party who has made a lot of changes; she’s helping families, she brought the World Cup to Brazil, she’s setting quotas. So now, there are 150,000 black students studying in universities as part of his quota. What she’s doing is opening windows for social change and social upward mobility.

Jessica is a character who really exists. I went to a debate at that school where she studies and there were five people like Jessica. Twenty years ago, there would be none. It’s a small change, but at the same time a big change.

AD: Val symbolizes optimism and change. Is that how maids feel now?

AM: Right now, there’s an economic crisis. They definitely have more self-esteem, but not so much optimism.

RC: At the time of shooting the film there was a big wave of optimism. It’s because there’s no money so like Anna says, there’s currently no optimism, but their self-esteem remains.

AD: Regina, you’re a big star in Brazil. How did you get involved in the film?

AM: I love her.

RC: It was a challenge because of the fact that I was big star. I thought that people would see me as a star and not see the character for who she was. I was wrong, people did see the character and not me, the star.
Anna was already familiar with my work. We also had mutual friends and shared similar lifestyles. When she said she wanted me for the role, we were both confident that it would be the perfect. Anna was familiar with me through my work, lifestyle and we had some mutual friends too. When she proposed the role to me, we were both confident that it would be the perfect match.

AD: What did you have to do coming into the film?

RC: Anna had several days of very intense acting games and exercises which was very helpful in the preparation. Also I didn’t know the rest of the cast which was helpful when establishing the distance you see between characters.

I had never met the actress who played my daughter. We were rehearsing over the phone, you see, and we never saw each other. We had a black screen between us.

AM: It gave a lot of emotional tension between the two. When we took the sheet away, that was really intense, but it also created for some really beautiful moments.

AD: How long did it take to shoot?

AM: Four weeks. It was a tight shoot.

AD: The house in itself is a character. How did you find it?

AM: We looked around for a while, first finding a house that would accept us for four weeks. It was either one we’d rent which was going to be expensive, or we find one that had people living in it, but people don’t want you for four weeks.

We eventually found one and made some changes because we needed it to be a modernist house. The modernist architects had already left for political reasons. So, we repainted some of it, created some walls to give it that look you see in the film.

AD: Let’s talk about the repeated shot from behind the fridge.

AM: It was something I was looking for. I was influenced by two films, Whisky where the camera never moves, and El Custodio. It used a handheld, the camera was always with the bodyguard. It gave you such a good feeling. I was looking for inspiration and playing with some shots. So, I put the camera at my side and it was quite a revelation seeing something for the first time. You see, I was born on the living room side, the perspective of the kitchen really moved me. Then you can see how ridiculous it was to hear, “Bring me a glass of water.” If the camera was in the living room, that wouldn’t be as important as it was. So we repeated it four or five times. It’s the political placement of the camera.

AD: As you know it’s not always that easy for female filmmakers in Hollywood, what’s it like in Brazil?

AM: It’s the same. At the beginning of my career, I could do the job, but not have the credit. Then I started going to therapy and started having the power to say no. I was also receiving 10 times less than my partners. I eventually got to the place where I could have the proper credit and the proper money. That took me at least ten years. I thought the fight was over.

But this film came along and it gave me a strength I never felt before. It went to Sundance and other festivals. The male partners started to behave as if they were my boss. As the film got bigger, they were saying, “If your film is doing well, it’s because of us.”

This year was one of the toughest years of my life. I had to find the strength to fight in a negative way and that was not really who I am. I had to learn how to yell, how to talk and how to intervene.

I think things are getting better. In the end, women have the tendency to be humble. This is good up to a point, until this humbleness becomes subservient. Men on the contrary have the natural tendency for arrogance. Women like me, need experience to know themselves and have confidence. In the beginning, I accepted myself. It took ten years. This year, it was a big step. I really had to fight because what they were saying was not true. I would have to say, “I wrote the film and directed this film.”

AD: What needs to be done to change sexism in the industry?

AM: First, we need to understand why we permit it. Within this humbleness, there’s a certain arrogance. For me, because sometimes we permit it, but inside we say, “This guy is a jerk.” So, if he’s a jerk, something needs to change inside women. We need to develop a certain level of aggressiveness. In Buddhism, you’re taught to have good energy and angry energy. it doesn’t mean doing bad things. For example, as a mother, if a dog were to come up to your child, you’d get mad.
Women need to understand and start to talk. Talking about it needs to happen. We’re here talking about it now. We need to put it out there. If a women who gets beaten by her husband doesn’t say anything, nothing will change.

Although, when you do speak up, they call you crazy. I’ve been speaking about it a lot. I can’t stand it anymore, and I need to find the strength. This film has made me different. I’m here today, I’m a different person to who I was at Sundance.

AD: Why do people love this story?

AM: Because everyone can relate to the story. We relate to Val. She’s against change. Jessica is a rebel, and we can relate to her. I think in everything she does or says, we stand with her rebellion.

It’s also very loving.

RC: It’s not just because it’s incredibly human, but also because it tells the story of encounters, many secret encounters and intimate conversations between husband and wife. The conversations between mother and daughter that are always hidden. The boy in bed with the maid, these are secret encounters that aren’t always portrayed on film.